Whether or not: the implicature (oversupply and Grice's maxim, "Avoid avoidable unnecessitated prolixity items, if you can."

Whether or not they are professional writers, many people are confused about whether or not they should use the phrase “or not” after “whether.”

The issue is whether or not it generates a horrid implicature.

The answer is simple. It depends (on stuff).

In the sentence above, it’s yes in the first case and no in the second:

"Whether or not they are professional writers, many people are confused about whether they should use the phrase “or not” after “whether.”

Often, the addition of "or not" is redundant after "whether", but not, mind, always.

The phrase may ordinarily be omitted in these cases:

--- When the whether clause is the object of a verb:

She wonders whether the teacher will attend.

(The clause is the object of wonders.)

When the clause is the object of a preposition:

The teacher will base his decision on whether the car has been repaired.

(The clause is the object of on.)

When the clause is the subject of the sentence:

Whether the car will be ready depends on the mechanic.

(The clause is the subject of depends.)

But when a "whether"-clause modifies a verb, "or not" is actually needed, and hardly Grice's "avoidable unnecessitated prolixity item."

They will play tomorrow whether or not it rains.
(The clause modifies play.)

Put more briefly, “whether” can generally stand alone when its clause is functioning as a noun, but not when the clause is serving as an adverb.

Another test:

“or not” is necessary when the phrase “whether or not” means “regardless of whether.”

Here are several recent lapses, erring one way or the other:

Whether she ever runs for anything else, Ms. Palin has already achieved a status that has become an end in itself: access to an electronic bully pulpit, a staff to guide her, an enormous income and none of the bother or accountability of having to govern or campaign for office.

It should be “whether or not.”

Use the test:

it’s the equivalent of “regardless of whether she ever runs …".


Whether any such approach works, the founders would have expected us to do something about this unconstitutional filibuster.

Ditto.

Make it “whether or not any such approach works” (or, “whether any such approach works or not …”)

•••

Commentators in the English media often bemoan the national team’s lack of elite strikers.

Manager Fabio Capello has tried Jermain Defoe, Peter Crouch, Gabriel Agbonlahor and Darren Bent as partners to the mercurial Wayne Rooney.

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And then there has been the long-running saga about whether or not to recall Michael Owen for the World Cup in South Africa.
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No need for “or not.” The “whether” phrase is the object of “about.”

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The Reserve Bank has sent PayPal a list of questions, focusing on whether or not personal payments to people in India qualify as remittances, or wire transfers of cash, PayPal said.

************

Here, too, “or not” is superfluous.

"whether or not" then means "regardless of whether"

while

"whether"

means something very close to "if" -- although a direct substitution of "if" for "whether" typically sounds awkward but nontypically doesn't.

----

It may be argued that one comes close to getting this question correct.

Why don't we say what we mean?

When we mean "regardless of whether," why not use that phrase?

Or is that phrase simply too long?

"Regardless of its extra length, that phrase is much clearer than the (almost idiomatic) expression "whether or not."

Or not.

Plus, it seems like you should be able to split

"whether or not"

to turn, e.g.

"They will play tomorrow whether or not it rains."

into

"... whether it rains or not."

If you can't split it, then, it can be argued, "or not" seems to be ALWAYS redundant.

Grice's test: replace "whether" by "if":

Can't "if" be substituted for "whether" or "whether or not" in many cases?

It can.

For example,

"The teacher will base his decision on if the car has been repaired"

or

"If any such approach works, the founders would have expected us...."

And so on.